Rides for 4 year olds....

[Disneyland1084]

I know kids come in all shapes and sizes. But is the average 4 year old tall enough to ride the big rides at DL? My daughter's only 4 and a half months old, I was just thinking when she's 4 it would be a good age to do a big family trip to Disneyland.

 

[talie95]

Like you said, every child is different. In our case, my daughter is 4 years old(she'll be 5 in Dec.) She's on the smaller side for her age, just hitting the 40" mark so she'll be able to ride everything except Indy when we go in 3 weeks. At least everything at DL. DCA height requirements are taller for a lot of the big rides. It should be a fun trip since this will be her first time experiencing the coaster rides. Hopefully she'll like them as much as we do!

 

[minnietoo]

Minimum height requirements for rides
35 inches (89 cm)
Gadget's Go Coaster, Matterhorn Bobsleds

40 inches (102 cm)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, Star Tours

46 inches (117 cm)
Indiana Jones Adventure

52 inches (132 cm)
Autopia (for a child to ride alone)

Also consider the "fear factor" your child might have for being able to tolerate rides and to understand reality vs. fantasy

 

[MagicalMomAZ]

My DD's 1st trip was at 4, mine too. She is tall for her age & always has been, she was 2 in. too short for Indiana. Have no idea what that is now, 4 yrs wipes a lot of memory.

She is a shy child & did not appreciate the characters. She loved Splash Mountain but that was as daring as we got. She loved everything from the Tiki Room to Splash Mountain to Soarin' in DCA.

She also was still taking naps then so we did 1/2 day increments - it worked great. I think 4 is a great age depending on the child & as long as the parent has no expectations.

Edited to say, I just read the other posts & realize she must have been 44 in on her 4th Bday. She's 54 in now at 8! Whew!

 

[KelsiesMommy]

Depends- my 3 1/2 year old is quite petite- turns 4 in Feb and is right now only 36.5 inches. Hoping she'll hit at least 38 by next year when we go to WDW

 

[disney-super-mom]

Depends- my 3 1/2 year old is quite petite- turns 4 in Feb and is right now only 36.5 inches. Hoping she'll hit at least 38 by next year when we go to WDW

I have the opposite problem. My 3 year old DS (he turned 3 on June 16th) is 41 inches tall already! So he'll be able to ride just about everything when we go to Disneyland this October. Our problem will be trying to determine if a ride is too scary or intense for him because of his age. When he was 2 years old, he loved Gadgets Go Coaster. This trip he'll be tall enough to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, and Star Tours. I know he'll LOVE Star Tours, I think he'll like Splash Mountain, but I'm not too sure about letting him ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - it could be too fast and scary for him.

One ride that I KNOW he and his big brother (who is 7 years old) DOESN'T LIKE AT ALL is the Nightmare Before Christmas Haunted Mansion. They both hate the creepy characters from that movie. But I think the scariest part for them is at the beginning in the "stretching room" when the lights go out (and of course everyone starts screaming, which makes it even worse for them) and that spooky deep voice that talks. I'm not sure if we'll take them on that one again during this trip. I guess we'll ask them once we get there and see what they say. Maybe they'll want to give it another try this year.

 

[dletz]

At 3 1/2 my daughter rode all rides you had to be 40 inches for. I think she was 4 when she rode allthe 42 inch rides. At 7 1/2 she has been on everything except mailiboomer. She is almost tall enough to ride Autopia by herself. The last time we went, they said if she wanted to ride alone they would let her even though she wasn't tall enough. I said no she will ride with her Aunt. Good thing too, because she tried the pedal (first time) and she was just a bit too short to keep the car going.

As for scary, you just never know, at 3 1/2 my daughter rode Tower of Terror. There was just no steering her clear of it. She didn't freak out, but hasn't ridden since. She doesn't really like Space Mountain, though she did enjoy it with the lights on, she doesn't do well not knowing which direction to go. We scream at the snowman on Matterhorn, she likes the ride, but not him, so will usually only go on it once in awhile. We hadn't been on Splash in a long time and she freaked out the last time we rode. Guess it's we won't be riding that for awhile. We were sitting in the back seat where two people can ride side by side. She used to do good until they made individual seats because she liked sitting in my lap in my arms. The last time her hands were wet on the bar and she was convinced going down the last drop she was going to fall out of the log. She was hysterical when she got off that she almost fell out of the log and that she couldn't hold on, and that she was never riding again. I felt the same way when I was a kid on the log ride at Knotts, so I understand her fear. I will try again in a few years and see how she feels.

I like thunder mountain, and think it's probably a good step up from gadgets go coaster. Nothing too scary jumping out at you (like the snowman on matterhorn). My daughter also didn't like Indy, too bumpy, and too much stuff jumping out at you.

Of course she also got concerned about Davy Jones in the Pirates ride, she thought he was a ghost and the boat was going through him. I had to tell her it was just a movie screen made out of fog, she turned around, realized what it was, and she's fine with it now.

 

[Dukland]

In 2005 my dd was 4.5 years old and she was just at the 40" mark. So she was able to ride everything she was interested in. this year, at 5.5 years, she was 43". Last year Space Mountain was closed, so this year was her first time on it. She loved going fast, but hated the dark, so freaked out. She hated the Matterhorn, because she didn't like the scary Snow-guy. She loved the Thunder Mountain Railroad, because it was fast, daylight, and no scary monsters. She also loved Splash Mountain, was able to ride it at least 3 times while we were there. She wasn't thrilled about Haunted Mansion, but I did drag her on it. She didn't freak, and seemed to enjoy it, but didn't want to go on it again. And in Pirates, she loves that, but doesn't like Davy Jones, either. She would hide her eyes at that part, we told her it was safe. And enjoyed the rest of the ride.

So, it really does depend on the child. My dd loves fast rides and hates dark rides or rides with scary monsters.

 

[Twinprincesses]

My girls went to WDW in April and rode all the kids rides but no coasters. I am hoping this time they will be big enough to ride Spash Mountain since that is all they talk about. I measured them and they are about a half inch away.

 

[dletz]

did you measure them with shoes on? The height requirements are with shoes. My daughter was borderline for awhile on rides. I had bought her a new pair of shoes and they had a very thick bottom, so we designated these the DL shoes. If she would wear a pair of sandals she wouldn't be tall enough. It go so frustrating to be allowed on once, and 2 hours later be denied. It helped with taller shoes.

Another thing that helped us. A lot of the places to measure have a bar that you go under and must reach. A lot of rides the CM will have a big stick that looks like an upside down L. My daughter didn't realize at first that you must actually bang your head on it to have them let you ride, so she would walk up to in and duck under. Espeicially on the freestanding ones. Once we told her they wouldn't let her ride until she hit her head on it, she would walk up stand up straight. At Universal one time she started to duck, and I said, no, you have to hit it with your head like at Disneyland. They lady yelled at me and said, well HERE you must not be on tippy toes or stretched out. I said she knows, but she needs to know that she isn't supposed to walk under it. Boy did I get a dirty look, but once she straightened up she more than made it and she was allowed on.